Interesting test and I appreciate the effort. I guess the frozen pea was a myth used as a marketing ploy for pealess whistles.

I am surprised that you didn't have a whistle stick to your lips, like Christmas Story and the flagpole/tongue triple dog dare.

Kudos for taking on this experiment.

That said, I've been in places where it was too cold for any whistle to function properly, pea or no pea. Once it gets into the sub-zero temps (say, -15F/-26C) all bets are off.

For me, it was the thought of cold metal sticking to exposed lips that made me switch to a plastic Fox 40 -- not the possibility of an immobile pea.

From an article entitled, "5 Worst Weather Super Bowls":

...Referee Norm Schachter had a metal whistle freeze to his lips. When he tried to rip it free, it took the skin off his lip, leaving a frozen, bloody lip! Referees then had to simply yell out commands instead of blowing the whistle to end plays.

1967 NFL Championship "The Ice Bowl"
Dec. 31, 1967 (Green Bay, WI)

http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-n...12-02-02?page=6

Neat! Thanks for going through the effort and posting your results.

With all respect:

I have several Storm whistles, including a couple of different models. They are bloody excellent. I have given several more as gifts. They are part of my front-line kits.

But I find no evidence of a pea. Rattle one around: hear a pea? I don't.

That said, I have had many pea-equipped whistles. I have never had one freeze in cold weather. And if it did freeze, the solution would be to hold it in your glove (or shove it into your shorts) for a minute, alongside your Bic, shake it around, and it would work like it should.

So, respectfully, I don't see what the fuss is about.

Really? I hear a pea. More importantly, the manufacturer of the Storm Whistle says there's a pea in there. See the diagram on this page:

http://www.stormwhistles.com/quickfacts.html

Maybe you're talking about a different whistle?

The sound is probably masked by the metal split ring rattling.

Great experiment, thank you!

My Storm Whistle has a revolving multi-arm paddle, like a steamboat paddle, but no pea. Granted, mine was manufactured about 15 years ago, so the design may have changed. The website shows a drawing of the Windstorm with a pea, not a drawing of the Storm with a pea.

Whistles with peas were abandoned by hockey leagues years ago (especially unheated or outdoor facilities). That is one sport where they DID freeze up. It is not a myth. The amount of times they blow the whistle or even hold the whistle up to blow leads to a lot of spittle in the whistle which can freeze and block the operation or at the very least atune the frequency so that it becomes a garble instead of a tweeeet.

Good work ireckon.

I must admit, I have had my pee freeze in a whistle, but don't ask how it got there...